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Grytviken, South Georgia

Grytviken
GRYTVIKEN

Grytviken, (Cauldron Bay) the oldest of the whaling stations, was founded by Captain Carl Anton Larsen in 1904. On arrival in the bay or viken, the whalers found some old tri-pots (gryte) that had been left by earlier sealers. This was later to be commonly known as Pot Harbour, but is technically incorrect as the Norwegian for harbour is havn. . After the first cargo arrived, the station was up and running within five weeks!

Grytviken has some of the most photographed landmarks on South Georgia. The Whaler's Church must be at the top of the list. A lovely old building dedicated in 1913 and still in use today. A short walk from the church and you are at the Cemetery and can view the grave of the explorer Sir Ernest Henry Shackleton. The ex whale catcher Petrel is another favourite, as are the hulks of the Dias and the Albatros.

The South Georgia Museum is housed in the old Manager's accommodation, where relics of the whaling era can be protected for posterity. Over the last eleven years I have seem a few of the whaling station structures succumb to the elements, one of them being the Grytviken Kino (cinema). The Flensing Plan wooden deck sheathing has almost completely rotted away. Considering that it has been over thirty five years since any of the factory and accommodation buildings had any maintenance, it shows the high caliber of the men who built them. Above the Machine Shop is the Patternmaker's Loft, still containing many beautifully made wooden patterns, ready for the Foundry to make castings for new parts.

A legacy of the conflict in 1982 can be found on the hill about a mile away from the Cemetery, in the form of a Puma helicopter. There is also a lovely photograph of HMS Endurance at Grytviken, taken a year or two before the conflict.

Life on a whale catcher or sealer was very tough as the following extract from a letter written to the Colonial Secretary, Port Stanley, by the Administrative Officer, South Georgia shows.